Contract Research Staff: Good Management Project

The Universities of Sheffield, Manchester and Loughborough, working in partnership with a further 14 universities, were funded by HEFCE under their Good Management Practice fund, to research and develop career management processes to Contract Researchers, and their managers, in longer term career planning via the development of personal and professional skills. The project identified the main aspects of 'good managment practice' to be:

- attracting / recruiting the right people

- effective induction

- motivating / setting of goals

- regular monitoring and reviewing

- ongoing support

- use of exit strategies

The project, focussing on career planning and support, developed a number of career support mechanisms, namely a Research Career Builder containing a skills matrix whereby Contract Researchers, with assistance if necessary, can measure the levels of their existing skills; two Employment Skills Guidebooks with examples of how transferable skills are being acquired, can be built into projects and can transfer to other work contexts; and a Staff Review Scheme, to facilitate development and monitor progress. A number of training materials, case studies and checklists to enable career tracking have also been developed.

The diagram below represents a framework that can be used by institutions to embed the processes developed by the project into their own existing policies and practices. It has been formulated by talking with and listening to Contract Researchers and their managers, and can be used flexibly to fit into existing practices of induction, review meetings and exit strategies. The framework contains links to the career support mechanisms developed, which can be downloaded and adapted by individuals and for institutional use.

FIRST 3 MONTHS

CORE RESEARCH TIME

4 - 6 MONTHS BEFORE
CONTRACT END

CONTRACT END

Induction
Process

to include:

Staff Review Meeting

conentrating on the planning
of
development

Regular Staff Review Meetings
(monitoring of project process and development of personal and professional skills)

using:

The Research Career Builder
&/or
Employability Skills Guidebooks

Leads to Research and Employability Skills development and recording of such.

Pre-end of Contract Review

to flag up any major skills gaps that development can be targetted at in the last few months

Can lead to a 'skills boost'

Exit Data

next destination, opportunities whilst employed, and reason for leaving

Useful for tracking purposes for use by individual universities or possibly at a national level

For this framework, or any adaptation of it, to be fully effective in supporting the career development of contract researchers, it is important to achieve 'horizontal consistency' across an institution. This means involvement of a number of departments in the process, to include HR/Personnel, the Staff Development Unit, the Research Office and the Careers Service.